It all opens with news of an amazing new change in The Lost Temple of Zios... a change concerning the temple's resident.
The statue of Zios, the "father" of Jamaa in AJ lore, has been mysteriously restored by the Solar Eclipse! Rather fitting, too, considering that Zios looks like an artistic depiction of the sun.
I had originally thought him to look like the Mayan sun god, but now I realize that Zios is the spitting image of the head of Viracocha, the father of the Incan sun god! Just look at that image... AJHQ took direct inspiration from this exact depiction.
According to Wikipedia, "Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon, and stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky) and civilization itself. Viracocha was worshipped as god of the sun and of storms. He was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain."
That last sentence reminded me of something from an AJ animation about the Alphas...
In this part, Zios was sinking into the ruins during a rainstorm. Rain was coming down and dripped into his eyes, coming out like tears. Do you think this was a hint? Ooooh that would be so cool.
You should read more about Viracocha. I wonder how much of his myths were considered by AJHQ to incorporate into Zios. One super interesting thing I read says that the widely-depicted image of his head is actually just his mask, and that he is very self-conscious about his appearance beneath the mask!
If that bit of information was used in the construction of Zios, I wonder if the statue of Zios in the Lost Temple is not actually a statue, but his mask...
What does Zios look like without his mask? Does he look like a tiger? Does he look like a plant? DOES HE LOOK LIKE CLARK STACEY??? IS ALL OF THIS JUST AN ELABORATE METAPHOR ABOUT THE CEO OF ANIMAL JAM???? ARE THE ALPHAS ALL JUST SOME STAFF MEMBERS????
*ahem*
Ok, back to the update...
There were hints that something involving Zios might happen during the recent eclipse update. Nothing was explicitly stated in the Jamaa Journal, but "mysterious subtle changes" were hinted in the description of an AJHQ Instagram post.
What I noticed within these subtle changes was the fact that during the eclipse, phantoms would not come out of the statue of Zios like they normally did when Jammers slept around it. There was also a beam of light on both the Mira and Zios statues. Perhaps the light "cleansed" the ruins of phantoms, allowing the statue to be restored!
We don't know much for sure, but things are sure to change and reveal themselves soon...
In other news, we are soon approaching Animal Jam's 7th birthday on September 9th, which also happens to be National Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day. That day will mark 7 years since Animal Jam came out of beta testing! To celebrate, AJHQ has provided us with goodies in the form of not one, not two, but SEVEN THEMED CAKES!!!
They also give you a gem bonus of 777 gems, more than enough to buy all these cakes representing the "seven wonders of Animal Jam", each costing 77 gems at vendors throughout the land.
I guess AJHQ was so caught up in the "7" theme that they didn't make a cake for Sarepia Forest. Or the oceans. But I'm not complaining, I think all of these cakes are really cool! This will be just like the mystery of the Beta Panda Banner. Only this has a clearer explanation. XD
In even more news, something has finally happened that I have been waiting for for a year, it seems:
Yes, friends, GOATS ARE COMING BACK.
But I'm not excited because I am in particular need to become a goat, oh no. It's because of this odd message they left before leaving that I have not forgotten since:
That kind of message was so specific and so unusual... I surmised it to be an early clue for the discovery of a new land. Or, as "boat" might imply, a new underwater area.
In this post, I theorized that once goats do return, they will bring back with them word of a new land.
That was almost a year ago.
Next update, we might get word of a new land.
See you in Jamaa, and get ready for a new year of Animal Jam!
This was an incredibly interesting post, Doomy! You made SO many good points and I just love this post to pieces. ^.^
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh... this makes me so happy. I thought it was interesting, too– I was typing so fast my fingers hurt lol :')
DeleteWow, that makes so much sense!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm happy that I make sense ^_^
DeleteI just realized that the message left by the goats is a poem. XD
ReplyDeleteIn Jamaa, there are some GOATS,
who have just written an interesting NOTE!
"We are going to travel and might take a BOAT,
so see you later!" the animals WROTE.